My friend Jill Foster posted this great tweet the other day.

I thought it was a great goal. Only problem was, by the time the evening rolled around, I’d only had one really good laugh thus far.

When I opened the door

“How’s it going?” said Evening to me, in a most avuncular fashion.

“Pretty good,” I answered, “except for this laugh thing.”

Evening pushed his bi-focals up his Dumbledore-esque proboscis and inspected me with a touch of concern. Could this daughter of the East be losing her marbles?

“You know, the whole ‘laugh three times today’ thing that Jill got me into.”

“Ah.” He pondered a while and then said, with a flash of enthusiasm, “Any Back Yard Squirrel antics recently?

“In this weather? You must be joking!” I responded hopefully.

But it wasn’t enough of a joke to break out the giggles, let alone the bubbly. Back I sank on my stoop, jokeless and laughless.

“Oh.” After a few minutes of companionable silence, he cleared his throat and rose, shaking his voluminous sunset robes, tinged with gold and mauve, around him. “I’d best be going, then.”

And he did. Wafted straight into the sunset, did Evening.

A nice enough chap, but I’ll tell you something. If he stops by for a cuppa, don’t expect to discuss more than the weather with him.

Image: Zen Sutherland, Creative Commons

I finally did get my laughs in before the clock struck midnight, thanks to Bill Murray’s exquisite performance in The Man Who Knew Too Little. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

The Chuckle-icious Seven

If you’re looking for some great blog posts for when you need a chuckle, here they are:

1. Fabulosity comes to those who weight, from Fun and Fit: Q and A with K and A.

Why: A new discovery of mine thanks to Brian Meeks, twins Alexandra and Kymberly dole out fitness advice that will exercise your laugh muscles along with everything else.

2. Anti-self-deprecation is the New Black, from Nanny Goats in Panties.

Why: when social media “gurus” – or any “gurus,” for that matter – are self-deprecatingly stumbling over themselves all over the social Web, just point them to this.

3. Larry is furious about this Mark Hurd thing, from The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, published by Fake Steve Jobs.

Why: Dude. Seriously. You know why.

4. I’m replacing his chair with a throne, from dooce, aka Heather Armstrong.

Why: Anyone – including a famous mommyblogger – who can successfully tie the words “tyrant,” “Bach,” and “dog-butt-wiping-angle” – with a video to boot – gets my vote.

5. Pretty much everything from Sh*t My Dad Says.

Why: I know SMDS made the rounds a while back, when the S hit the C, but how can you not read any of these without clutching your sides in agonizing glee?

6. Note to Vivek Oberoi: now would be as good a time as any to get your head out of your a$$, from The Secret Journal of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Why: I’m not keeping with the fecal orifice theme intentionally, believe me. This one’s especially for my Indian (and those who “get” India) peeps and tweeps.

Feringis, be warned, your delicate sensitivities might be shocked by this one. Didn’t know I had a wicked sense of humor, did you?

7. The ultimate collection of Twitter cartoons, from Technically Personal.

Why: Though Twitter’s managed to rid itself of its “shiny new” somewhat since this post was published, the cartoons are still funny. Especially this one from Geek & Poke:

Chuckle away, my friends. Especially you, Jill.